Dinner at home last Saturday night was so nice, that I decided to prepare dinner at home again this past weekend. Early in the day, we stopped at our friend’s house. He took us out into his garden where he dug up a few turnips and handed them over to us. To be quite frank: my parents are not gardeners (and having lived in cities for all of my adult life) I’ve never been so close to root vegetables when they are pulled from the ground. It gave me a whole new appreciation for the bath our food gets before it makes it to the market!I was completely dazzled by these turnips - immediately – I knew I needed to incorporate them into our dinner menu. Suddenly, I was reminded of a dish I used to practically lived off of when I was in college. Root Vegetable Stew. I knew the recipe was in a blue book, but when I started to dig through my oldest cook books, I realized the recipe would not be found in short order. Time was wasting and I needed to get to the market, so I decided just to ‘wing it’ and make up the preparation as I went. What you need from the market – or garden – or pantry! I used equal amounts of chopped, skinned Rutabaga (1), peeled Turnip (2 large), peeled Carrot (6), peeled Parsnips (6), New Potatoes (small bag, skins on), Onion (1.5 large), chopped fresh Garlic (I like a lot so I used 2 heaping Tablespoons), Sea Salt (to taste), 4 cups vegetable stock (or water just be sure to add more seasonings), 5 Tablespoons flour.In a large soup pot: warm about 2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil over medium-high heat. Add chopped onion and sauté with a teaspoon of sea salt. This will help the onion release water and aid in the cooking process. Once your onions look translucent, add the chopped garlic. Sauté for a few moments more, and then add the additional vegetables in stages. Start with the hardest, densest vegetables first. Each time you add vegetables to the pot, season with a sprinkle of salt. Continue to stir the mixture so that the olive oil coats the fresh vegetables. The heat of the cooked vegetables will start to cook the newly added veg. Repeat. Eventually, all your vegetables will be incorporated into the stew. **I remade this recipe the weekend of October 21st, and added 1 Tablespoon dried oregano, 1 Tablespoon dried basil, 2 bay leaves, and a pinch of red pepper right before I added the stock. It made a world of difference in the flavor!**It’s time to add the stock. Bring it up to a boil, and reduce to a simmer. Let it bubble away for at least 30 minutes, or until your vegetables are fork tender. This may take a while depending how big the pieces of vegetables are. Remember=chop them bite-sized for quicker cooking time.Once the vegetables are tender, incorporate the flour, stirring in one tablespoon at a time. You’ll see the broth start to thicken with each additional tablespoon of flour. Season the stew to taste. Turn the heat on the pan to ‘low’ or put a lid on the pot and place it in a 200 degree oven until you are ready to serve it.Honestly, I’d be perfectly happy with a bowl of vegetable stew and a whole wheat scone. The Mr would live on animal protein alone – if I let him. To satiate his taste for meat with dinner, I prepared baked chicken that had been marinated in sesame oil, garlic and red pepper on the side. I simply served it on top of the root vegetable stew. The flavors complimented this dish quite nicely.The only thing that would have made this recipe better: a sprinkle of green! It tasted quite good but (aside from the orange carrots and purple potatoes) with the addition of the chicken it was visually pretty darn beige. I wished so badly that I had some fresh cilantro to chop up and sprinkle over the top of this dish. I’ll be better prepared next time!

{All the images are my own with exception of ‘Go Vegan‘}

Posted by Amy Beth Cupp Dragoo / totally delicious dishes and Uncategorized